


The Charlatan

by Glinda



Series: In The Cards [1]
Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-29
Updated: 2009-10-29
Packaged: 2017-10-05 20:46:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glinda/pseuds/Glinda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of Arthur's birth fortune makes fools of them all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Charlatan

**Author's Note:**

> Written partly in a youth hostel in Munich, partly on the train from Munich to Vienna, but mostly in a youth hostel in Vienna, far too long a story to write long-hand in a notebook but I didn't realise that when I started it. Written for [](http://community.livejournal.com/fanfictarot/profile)[**fanfictarot**](http://community.livejournal.com/fanfictarot/).

Gaius is absent from Camelot when Igraine dies. His sister is having a difficult pregnancy and for all the difficulties of conception Uther and Igraine suffered, the pregnancy goes well. He leaves them in Nimueh's care without guilt, knowing nothing of their deal until he returns to find her in chains. Uther will calm, he assures Nimueh, perhaps he will banish her from Camelot but in time he will relent and remember their friendship. She shakes her head, sadness and anger in her voice and eyes, speaks of war and the dragons slain, of vengeance bloody enough to paint all Camelot red. It has been long years since Gaius last saw Nimueh as a seer rather than a sorceress, he sends fervent prayers to their gods and goddesses that the future she saw was only one of many; that he may be in time to change it. His morning audience with Uther indicates that they may have been in vain.

Gaius does what he can to mitigate Uther's rage, in return he gains time; time to warn his own kind, to send them away with promises that he will call them back when Uther no longer has need of scapegoats; when it is safe. Some leave, others merely cease to advertise their talents or disguise them under other names. Word gets out to travellers that the Queen of Camelot had died of a magical ailment and that not even conjurers would be welcomed at court. It certainly makes winter duller but as long as Uther's temper cools like the weather then it is a price that Gaius willingly pays.

Gaius visits Nimueh regularly, officially to ensure her continued health, in truth to hear her terrible dreams. No longer in chains or dungeons, she still looks pale, waning from so long cut off from the earth she draws her power from. In truth, even yet she could free herself in a moment, but respect and desire to repair her feud with Uther keep her captive. A respect that Uther has returns in her lack of chains and the provision of notional comforts. Gaius in turn gives her what comfort he can, brewing a draft at her direction that dulls the sharpness of her prophetic dreams.

Months pass and Gaius begins to breathe easier. Young Arthur grows stronger as his first birthday grows nearer. He begins to hope that Uther will mark the occasion with Nimueh's release rather than her banishment. He has forgotten that the summer solstice still stands between them and that day. During winter, the Druids had passed through Mercia on their way to their sacred sights in the South, however, now Mercia is at war and that way is closed to them. They send word requesting safe passage through Camelot and at Gaius's urging Uther agrees to grant them passage, and even to receive their leaders. A banquet is held in their honour and discussion stays firmly away from religion on the foreign ambitions of Mercia's King and news of Camelot's northern allies. Gaius does his best to play peacemaker, at times unsure if the role he plays is more court physician or court fool. He has not many friends among the Druids, but one of them is present tonight and Gaius takes the opportunity to catch up on news of those who are fled to safety with pleasure. They share hopes that forgiveness is entering the heart of Uther. Barely half an hour later their hopes are made mockery as dispute breaks out between Uther and the most senior druid over the events surrounding Arthur's birth. Gaius does his best to reason with his King, but he cannot change the truth – Uther had known the bargain he was making, known but not truly understood, as both Uther and Nimueh have told. Now however, Uther understands all too well. He has the light of the new religion to guide him, he has sinned, paid a terrible price and repented, and will now cleanse his sin in an equally terrible fire. He begins with a decree that the druids are to be executed at dawn, the rest of their clan banished, and no shelter to be given them in Camelot. Gaius fears he already knows where it will end.

The druids do not go quietly; only a few are executed in the end, the rest finding sanctuary among the country folk, resentful of the absence of their own magic users. Disquiet and rebellion are in the air. The week before Arthur's birthday Gaius sorts carefully through his books, hiding those that would incriminate him carefully, bringing forth those that deal with herbs and healing that require no magical assistance. Uther comes upon him as he is finishing, his library like the rest of his life transformed into that of a simple court physician. Uther is never one for procrastination and paces the room for only a few moments before speaking.

"Gaius, I wish to speak of a most unpleasant matter, on the first anniversary of Arthur's birth…"  
"Your intend to have Nimueh executed," interrupts Gaius, sighing deeply.  
"You knew." There is an accusatory tone to Uther's voice that speaks of the paranoia that caused Gaius to purge his own library, he seeks to assuage it now.  
"I didn't know, I did however suspect, have done for some time. Nimueh is certainly expecting it," he pauses to take in Uther's raised eyebrows, "she was a seer long before she was a sorceress, and besides, the iron chains were hardly subtle."  
"I see," Uther responds heavily, "this only increases my concern that she has something planned for Arthur in return."  
"She will not harm Arthur," Gaius assures Uther, thinking of the promise he extracted from her at the Solstice, "the magic that ensured Arthur's safe passage into this world was of the most powerful there is; more powerful than anything she has ever previously managed. She is immensely proud of that, whatever the subsequent fallout, she will not destroy that willingly." He keeps safe in his head the theory she had expounded, that while Arthur lived iron could not bind her or her magic; and what with would sacrifice that? Uther in his turn nods curtly and takes his leave. "Uther," Gaius calls after him, "for all our sakes do not follow this path where it leads. There is only darkness that way."  
Uther pauses for a moment in the doorway before he answers, "I follow the only path I know."  
"I was afraid of that," Gaius says quietly to the empty room.

In the end Nimueh has no need to test either iron or her theory. The day of Nimueh's execution dawns bright upon an uprising both desperate and short-lived. Even after it has been so brutally suppressed, Uther, enraged that Nimueh had been rescued, declares war upon magic. With fire and sword he has his vengeance until all magic has fled to the boundaries of Camelot and all but one last dragon are dead. He hears that Nimueh has fled into the dark places and fears where that path may lead her.

Over time he buries his magic almost entirely, under a cloak of absent-mindedness, dry academics and herbal medicines. There are few left who remember the power he once wielded, and those who do know better than to mention it. He teaches Arthur how the natural world works, how nothing comes from nothing and everything has its price. Watches as the young prince grows to embody all the hopes of the people. Worries over the letters Hunith writes him about young Merlin's growing gifts. When the King's ward comes to him with terrible headaches and worse dreams, he finds his hands making a potion that another seer taught him long before. He keeps his suspicions secret from everyone, even Morgana herself. As if her ignorance could keep her from harm; as though magic didn't flow in her blood as surely as it does in his own.


End file.
